I’m a big fan of the Decemberists. Which is why my interest was piqued with the announcement that they have an open call for poster submissions for their SXSW show. I fired up Photoshop, and then went and checked out the rules. Here’s an excerpt:

8. SPONSOR’S RIGHTS TO ENTRIES: By submitting a Entry, each entrant: a. Irrevocably grants to the Sponsor, its agents, licensees, and assigns the unconditional and perpetual right and permission to copyright, reproduce, encode, store, copy, transmit, publish, post, broadcast, display, publicly perform, adapt, modify, create derivative works of, exhibit, and otherwise use the Entry (with or without using the entrant’s name) in any media throughout the world for any purpose, without limitation, and without additional review, compensation, or approval from the entrant or any other party. b. Forever waives any rights of copyrights, trademark rights, privacy rights, and any other legal or moral rights that may preclude the Sponsor’s use of the entrant’s Entry, or require the entrant’s permission for the Sponsor to use the Entry. c. Agrees not to instigate, support, maintain, or authorize any action, claim, or lawsuit against the Sponsor on the grounds that any use of the Entry, or any derivative works, infringes any of the entrant’s rights as creator of the Entry, including, without limitation, copyrights, trademark rights, and moral rights.

Really? Just by entering I give you the rights to use and reproduce this without even the guarantee of attribution? C’mon. This should be one-time use rights, and only for the winner. Given the recent facebook TOS kerfuffle, you’d think companies would be a little more sensitive to such things.

-Kent

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